By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER
The Bookworm Sez
“The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning” by A.J. Jacobs
c.2024 / Crown Publishing / $30 / 304 pages
They say you have to fight for the right to party.
You also have the right to rant and the right to be wrong. You can belt “All Right Now” at full-blast, if the lyrics feel right, right now. You may have the right to turn right on a red light because you’re an upright citizen. And in the new book “The Year of Living Constitutionally” by A.J. Jacobs those are just a few of the things you got right.
New Yorkers aren’t used to seeing a guy in a tri-corner hat, carrying a musket, but if it meant living like our Founding Fathers, A.J. Jacobs was game.
His efforts started some years ago when he wrote a book, “The Year of Living Biblically,” and he noticed that the Bible had a lot in common with America’s Constitution. He’d once lived like a Levite; why not party like it’s 1787?
The first order of business was to find and actually read the entire Constitution. It was a “revelation … just how much our lives are affected by this 4,543-word document inscribed on calfskin …” We’re affected so much so, even after 200-plus years, that today’s SCOTUS wrestles with centuries-old Constitutional verbiage to make modern laws. Mostly, Jacobs says, any interpretation depends on whether you prefer “living constitutionalism” or originalism. The former argues for adaptation; the latter, for literal interpretation.
Jacobs chose the latter, and living like Ben Franklin, so he learned to write with a quill pen with light from a beeswax candle. George Washington plied Virginia voters with gallons of spirits, and Jacobs appreciated the “liquid courage.” Jacobs tried to vote out loud, but though a secret ballot isn’t a Constitutional right, it’s the law today. He joined a re-enactment group and learned to shoot that musket. He took advantage of the free press and the right to assemble (in his living room). He “quartered” a soldier and petitioned Congress. And he determined that when it comes to our Constitution, “We the People” must be vigilant …
If ever there was a right time to read “The Year of Living Constitutionally,” it’s today. Our lives, our futures are being debated and decided now, in real time. It’s serious stuff. Or not so much, with author A.J. Jacobs at the wheel.
Who knew that history could be so fun? Jacobs makes it so, by bravely living like a Founding Father, even if it seemed embarrassing sometimes — and then he tells us about it. Remember that guy in high school who’d accept any dare if there was a few bucks involved? Yeah, it’s kind of like that, only better because Jacobs also teaches his readers a thing or two about the years in which our Forefathers lived, and about a document that we can’t — and perhaps shouldn’t — stop talking about.
This is an enjoyable book, maybe a slight bit irreverent for certain readers, but surely full of humor and things you didn’t know. If you think you really need to read “The Year of Living Constitutionally,” well, you’re right.
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